SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL 62056

THE LOW STATE OF THE BLACK HOLE CANDIDATE 4U 1755-338

ABSTRACT

RXTE observations have shown that the black hole candidate source 4U1755-338 has been in an extended low state since January 1996. This low-state offers a unique opportunity to study the X-ray properties of this system in this new state. We propose to observe this source with ASCA in its low-state. This observation will provide critical new evidence regarding the nature of the compact object and probe the nature of the accretion flow, in particular the recently popular advection dominates accretion flow models.